Participation Inequality
Etymology
Formalized by usability researcher Jakob Nielsen in 2006 as the “90-9-1 rule” — roughly 90% of users lurk, 9% contribute occasionally, and 1% produce almost everything. The idea drew on earlier observations of lurking on mailing lists. It corrected the illusion that loud posters represent a whole user base.
noun phrase · /par-tis-ih-PAY-shun in-ih-KWOL-ih-tee/
The pattern in which a tiny fraction of an online community creates most of the content while the vast majority only watch.
What it names
The lopsided reality behind any comment section: the visible few are not the silent many.
Example
The forum has fifty thousand members, but participation inequality means the same dozen people write nearly every post.
Related idea
Participation inequality is a cousin of the power law and the long tail: a few contributors dominate output while a massive silent tail barely participates.